SIFAT Reflection
So to begin with, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to update the blog while we were at SIFAT…it appears the entire city of Lineville has something against my phone, since it didn’t work literally the entire time I was in the city (not just at SIFAT). Aside from the obvious annoyances of my phone not working, it was kind of a relief to be disconnected from the virtual leash that we all carry around all day everyday.
On to more important things. SIFAT was an absolutely amazing experience. This year’s group was our “guinea pig” group. After having experienced SIFAT, my opinion is that all students should participate in this experience at least once, and that the church as a whole adopt more in-depth (more SIFAT-esq) training for all mission trips being sent out from the church. I call the trip an experience because that’s exactly what it is…we experienced different cultures and had a taste of what life is like for people around the world, and most importantly, we had a glimpse of what mission trips can look like from the receiving end. It really makes you think about what you do and how you do it, in terms of serving on a mission trip.
I don’t want to get too detailed for a couple of reasons: 1) if you have a student that went on the trip, you should really hear about the trip from their perspective and not from a blog post and; 2) if you are considering participating in SIFAT in a coming year, I don’t want to give too much away and ruin the experience for you. But I will share some of the more notable lessons that I learned while there.
What we consider “helping” can sometimes actually be doing more harm than good. Take, for instance, a street beggar in a 3rd world slum…an american missionary comes in, sees the beggar and has pity on them. So what do they do? They give that person the sandwich that they had brought for lunch that day. Seems like a good idea right? Well, what about the lady who makes her living by selling food just a few houses down? When the missionary “helped” the beggar by giving them some food, the lady who’s selling food loses business. It might not seem like a big deal, but for someone who’s just scraping by, the loss of just a customer or 2 can mean the difference between eating or not that night. Another way to go about this would have been for the missionary to purchase some food from the local business woman to give to the beggar. Simple things that we don’t give much thought to can make all the difference in the world. We just need to be careful when we are “bringing God” to places that we actually think through HOW we will be doing that, otherwise people might get a false sense of who this God is anyways.
In America we are so spoiled with our jobs. I know it might be a touchy subject right now considering the economy, but for a lot of Americans, we have jobs (and pretty comfortable ones at that). A lot of the time we take them for granted too. We complain about “long” hours, we complain about uncomfy chairs, and the jerk who works adjacent to us, but for many people around the world, they are so happy just to have a job for the day. We did some jobs that were physically demanding and we got paid our “daily wage” from them, which we took back to our families so we could buy food to feed them that night. When having a job that day means food on the table, and not having one means going hungry…when it’s that closely tied…not “I have some rainy day funds in the bank, so I’m good for a few weeks or months”, but when today matters for tonight, you are soooo happy just to have a job. Even when it’s physically exhausting and you come home completely wiped out.
If there was a general trend of the week, I would say that it was the entitlement breaking away. All of the “I want…”, “I need…”, “I should get…” type of statements or thoughts began to disappear. Some of the week was very difficult and they were working hard, but I heard very few, if any, complaints.
The last thing I’ll share is this. We were in RURAL Alabama. We were in relatively unspoiled creation. Our worship location, called the Quonset Hut, had bay doors that opened up behind the stage. The view was overlooking mountains. It was absolutely breathtaking. In fact one morning, Nate, the leader of the camp, had us just sit and enjoy God’s creation. There’s something about being in the woods, something about being surrounded by lots of trees, something about being rained on, something about getting your water that you use from a stream that connects you with God. You’re connecting with the creator of all of this, and I loved it!
ReCreation…..incredible week!!
Recreation
Well….. we are driving back from NC and will be in late tonight. What an incredible week. I am not even sure if the word Incredible can adequately explain this week. God has been so faithful and worked so powerfully through our group this week. Yesterday was our final day of work. We were not able to finish our roof unfortunately because the recreation folks did not bring enough shingles. We were a little disappointed but came to the conclusion that it was not about us and that another group would come in and finish up the work. The roof was a beast to work on. The angle and landscape made it very difficult but we made it work. Amy Vance was fearless and was scaling a ladder that was almost perpendicular to the ground over 10 feet. Alex, Chris (AKA Steve), and myself had to hold the ladder for safety. It was funny that while we were working on the roof the group that had been running septic lines up a mountain worked there way close to the house. We were all quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We have decided that we are all going to get together and have a Monty Python party since several people have not seen it. We all voted to have it at “Steves” house….. although Austin said he did not want us to because he would have to clean up. Thanks Robin…. we are looking forward to coming over even th0ough you were unaware of that decision!! I cant wait for you all to see the pictures of the house and especially the septic line that a lot of our students worked on all week. It literally was a long line up a mountain to a drainage field that our students dug. It was not sand like we have in florida but clay and stone. One of the aspects of our groups assignment this year was that it was the biggest jobs ReCreation has ever had. It was a collaboration of many organizations both non profit and government. In fact, yesterday all of the different heads of the groups (15 people) showed up at the sight to see what was going on and discuss strategies for all of the other details that needed to take place to complete Mr. Hughes house. Tracy Ball was walking by the group in their discussion and they invited her to join them in praying over this house. So here is a group of government officials and others praying!! How powerful!!! God truly used our group to impact Mr. Hughes and I am so thankful that we got to be part of this.
I have to say that favorite part of this trip was each night during our team time where as a group we talked about issues of faith,shared our hearts, and prayed together. I can’t help but think that this is what Acts chapter 2 talks about as what it means to be part of the church. We really seemed so close and connected, it just felt amazing. We get so caught up in the workings of life, school,entertainment, and all of the other distractions in life that we forget about what it means to be a community of believers who reach out to others, pray together, and worship together. I hope that all of the things we talked about this week…we actually follow through with. ReCreation 2010 students and adults…may the God of the Universe continue to use each one of you in powerful ways and may we continue to be open to his leading. Thanks for a great week and for blessing Mr. Hughes!!
Here is some perceptions about our adults and students….
Our adult leaders are amazing. I cannot begin to tell you have great it is to have a wonderful group of adults who love the Lord, communicate in a healthy way with students, and understand our call to minister to others. They have really engaged with our students and I am so thankful for their presence here.
Tracy Ball- Despite being an University of Alabama grad Tracy is amazing. Just kidding ….about the college…not about the amazing part! If you do not know Tracy she has a wonderful personality and is one of those people that our students and others connect to very quickly. She was such a positive part of our trip and just dove right in to our painting of the house. Even after getting stung by a hornet on the top of her head several times she just kept on plugging on. LeAnne joked about her bad driving but she is driving the bus right now and doing a great job!!
Chris Layne- Chris is now “Steve”. We all call him Steve now because Alex Confer kept calling him that in our blog. It is one of those things that just stuck and he is such a great sport and just went with it. He may just have his name changed!! Chris is one of those guys that I see as being such a great father and exemplifying what a true man of God looks like. I hope to one day go on a mission trip with my son and hopefully I have as good of a relationship as he and Austin do. I have been through confirmation with Chris and now on this trip and I love to see his heart and the emotions that come from him. He is a great guy and I would love to serve on another mission trip with him.
Audra Croup- Audra and I both drove the suburban and got to spend a lot of time talking on this trip. Audra is awesome! She has a wonderful heart for Christ and I have thoroughly enjoyed our conversations. She and her family attend All Saints Episcopal but her kids go to both of our youth programs and I love the fact that our churches interact and work together. We talked about the importance of being Kingdom focused and not so much on denominations. It is sad to me that so many people get caught up in that and not on what unites us. She is a hard worker and is so loving and compassionate. she spent a great deal of time speaking with Mr. Hughes and he so enjoyed that and I believe he was moved by her companionship this week.
Brenda Stauffer- Brenda is the adult on this trip that I have known the longest. She was a youth volunteer for a number of years at our church and was also a Youth Minister herself several years ago. She has a true heart for ministry and it is obvious in the ways that she interacts with our students. She also is a really hard worker! She scaled that steep roof and pulled off the hot metal roofing that was on there. It was amazing and I was impressed with her spider man abilities. I am thankful that she is working with our students again and it was great to have her on this trip.
Michael Strange-Poison Ivy- So far Michael Strange is the only one who got some poison ivy. He has some on his face which looks like a scratch. He is a trooper though and has been labeled as the hero of the trip. When we were rafting Leanne got pinned under some rafts on this one rapid. Michael truly stepped in and helped Leanne refusing to let her go and made sure that she was safe while pushing the other rafts out of the way. His attention to and attitude to others has been amazing and what a great personality and spirit he has. God has gifted him with a compassionate and loving heart for others. I am looking forward to seeing how God uses him in the future!
Austin Layne- Austin has now received the nick name of “Purple”. Let me explain why. First off we have three Austins on this trip. When they were going over the rules they explained that guys could not go in the girls area and vice versa. There would be no purple (combineing boys (blue) and girls (Pink) to make purple. Austin did not understand this….. so he is now “Purple”. Austin was one of our ditch diggers and worked hard to get through North Carolina clay and rocks. I love his attitude towards everything and laid back personality that puts people at ease and easily connect with him. Amanda and Amy made him a hat that has his nickname “Purple” on it too….so hopefully he wears it!!
Rush Kimball- Rush brought so much to our trip with his positive attitude and great work ethic. He spent most of his time digging trenches and jack hammering through huge stones. He was very determined and never gave up. Rush joined our youth group this year and this is the third mission trip I have been on with him this summer. I see God really building him up and will use him in powerful ways. He is feeling a leading into ministry and I believe God will continue to build him up and use him in powerful ways in ministry.
Amy Vance- Amy was such a hard worker and definitely our group daredevil! She was willing to do whatever was asked of her even if it meant scaling a very steep roof. She is one of our roofing queens and spent the majority of time on the roof but beyond that was such a servant to others too. One of the things that really stood out to me with Amy was her heart for others. For those of you that know Amy you realize that she does not have a shy bone in her body!! She is so wonderful to talk to and gets along with everyone and includes and reaches out to everyone making them feel part of our group very quickly. I have loved to see Amy grow in her faith from being a 6th grader to now a sophomore in High School!
LeAnne Ball- I am going to name LeAnne as our student minister of the trip. Each night at team time she had some great analogies of how God had been at work. We basically got preached to each night from her…in a good way!! The other students did not want to sit next to her because they did not want to follow up what she had to say when we went around the circle. God is doing a mighty work in her life. She had a couple of scary times on this trip with injuries but she is a trooper and made it through safely. She brings a great attitude to our team and it has been wonderful to hear her heart and the ways in which God has used this trip to bring her peace in life and the things that are going on with her.
Lauren Nicholas- It was so great to have Lauren on this trip. She has a great sense of humor that makes me laugh and smile and she brought so much to our team. She was willing to do whatever was asked of her and did it with a big smile on her face. I loved hearing her share at team time because of the sincerity of her words as she spoke from her heart. During our hang out times I loved hearing her speak with other students and what a sweet spirit she has and she always seemed so positive…even at 6am!! She was a ditch digger too all week and worked hard moving dirt and rocks!!
Amanda Finnell- Amanda was our only senior on the trip this year and over the years I have grown to love her humor. She is one of the funniest people i know…..and can burp louder than almost anyone!! Amanda was a true leader on this trip in many regards and it she brought the UMBRELLA together…..ask your child about the umbrella!! God is going to use her in powerful ways as she ventures off to FSU this fall. She will be greatly missed but I know that she will stay connected to us and make a difference in the kingdom of God in Tallahassee.
Peyton Bailey- Peyton is a young man of deep faith and conviction. I am always amazed when I listen to him speak and the maturity of faith that he possesses. He unashamedly expresses his faith to us and is an inspiration to us all in his wisdom that he brings. He also has another gift that we discovered…. While painting in a very small room I think the fumes were getting to him and he came up with the cheesiest and corniest jokes ever. I think he could send them to Laffy Taffy and actually get one published and a piece of candy!! He even had Mr. Hughes, who does not have a voice box, laugh!
Austin Coye- Another of our Austins that we have begun to call “Coyefish”. I cant remember who came up with it but it stuck. Austin was another of our roofing queens and as soon as we arrived on the sight from the first day she was up the ladder laying shingles. She worked hard this week but unfortunately got sick on our last day. Even through her sickness she had a great attitude and brought so much to our group. Austin is one of our strong leaders in our student ministry and brought so much to our team with her sparkalicious personality.(Sparkalicious is the slogan for cheerwine…..a wonderful drink they should carry in florida!!)
Austin Croup- Our other Austin we just decided to go with the last name and call him “Croup”. Austin did an amazing job all week and brought so much to our team as well. I have to say that I have a great admiration for Austin with his attitude in life. He has type 1 diabetes or has explained it do us in simple terms to go with stereotypes (Skinny people diabetes). We learned a lot about this and to see him all day long check on his blood sugar and keep up with this. He has a tremendous attitude about it and maturity in handling it. I am not sure how I would handle this but he handles it so well. I love his heart and hearing him each night share about the workings of God in his life. He speaks with a depth and conviction that is inspiring.
Alex Confer- Alex has an amazing gift with other people and including them and reaching out to them in a sincere and authentic way. All week long Alex and i have harassed each other (which is the nature of our relationship!) I joke with him but have a tremendous respect and appreciation for his commitment to Christ. He has a true servants heart that I wish more people had. One of the many funny things this week with Alex was his great attention to detail… Karen and Mark i know you know what I am talking about!!! How do you deal with that every day???!!. My check engine light has been on in my suburban for over a year. I know what the issue is but don’t want or need to get it fixed. This drives alex crazy as he wants to take my engine apart and fix it. Also, my back top brake light is broken and to appease him we had to take it out and go to a parts store. It cost too much to replace…so once again he is frustrated…I love that he feels that way!
ReCreation Day 3
Right now I’m sitting down on a picnic table in the field behind the ReCreation base. Lightning bugs are flying around us. it’s a picture perfect summer night in NC. The group just got done playing bracin UNO. What a crazy game. I lost. Bad. The other youth groups still stare at us when they pass. We have defiantly made our selves known. Were defiantly labeled as that youth group.
This morning we slept in till 7:30!! After another jumpy screamy time we headed out to Bojangles where Andy bought us breakfast. We all got to experience cheerwine for breakfast. It was great. One of the top dogs here at recreation told us to visit a rope swing into a river. Some of us were nervous to make the 10 foot high swing. Everyone got over their fears and jumped!! Sadly though on the last swing Leanne jumped the wrong way and hurt her ankle. Everyone was so worried we had another Michael Saxton accident on our hands. Andy and steve carried her to the car as we were leaving for white water rafting. After an hour drive through a “shortcut” Leanne was walking and ready for rafting.
It was raining on and off through our river trip. It was about a 3 hour tour. Ha. It was an adventurous trip to say the least. Plenty of people got to experience the cold of the river. We were certainly glad to make it safely to dry land. We drove back to recreation and hung out for the rest of the night.
So here we are now playing spoons as the sun is setting enjoy the night. Tomorrow morning we awake at 6:00 to start work again. I got to run. There’s a game of spoons to win.
S.I.F.A.T. Update 1
Hi yall i’m not on the trip but just got off the phone with jamie johnson! Everyone is having a great time up in alabama. They just finished the 24 hours in the 3rd world village. She said it was great experience for all! Our team was split up in groups and they haven’t seen each other in awhile. When they do get a chance to talk we’ll try and have a better update available. There’s no cell service where the group is staying so chris can’t update the blog. If anyone wants a message sent to them comment on this post and i’ll get it to them!
ReCreation Day 2
Hi yall it’s me! Alex Confer bringing you news fresh from ReCreation! Steve lane just read the first sentenced and told me to take out the word “fresh” due to the smell of us right now. These fans just can’t handle our awesome. You maybe wondering why we just upgraded bloggers. It’s because Andy has poison oak and can’t move. Just kidding he’s just lazy, so now I’m doing the dirty work. In fact andy is laying on his personal cot with his own fan blowing on him. Take it from me he’s very comfortable.
Today was a great day! As usual we started the day with jumpy screamy time. I have to say it’s an intense worship. I was sweating more during worship than on the work site! After a great motivational sermon to our work site. We then took our hour bus ride at 8:30AM. Today we dug and roofed. Digging was continuing on another groups work from last week. Basically we were using pick axes to break through solid rock, then scooping it out. The septic line runs about 300 feet and up an elevation of 75 feet. Rush and micheal had to opertaing the jack hammer at the top of the hill. They also got to carry it up. LeAnne, the two boy austins, Lauren, audra, and tracy tackled the dig project.
As for the roof girl austin, andy, steve, Amanda, Amy, Breanda, peyton, and yours truly handled it. One part of the roof is about a 45 degree angle. There’s a ditch that’s about 7 feet deep and 4 feet wide around the back under the steep roof. So the ladders and either near vertical or horrizantal used as a walk way. It’s intense. Amy and girl austin placed the shingles on half the roof with one of the ReCreation staff. The rest of us tackled placing new boards on the steep roof. Amanda learned to use a circular saw and cut the wood! Amanda handled the cutting and steve and I carryied the wood up to andy and peyton on the roof. It was frustrating work but we go it done and ready to place shingles for thursday! Our client mr. hughs has enjoyed our company so much. We’ll talk more about him in a latter post.
For dinner to night we had lazianna, bread, and pudding. Afterwards we ventured to walmart for the 3rd time (we like walmart). After a small accident in the drink isle we decided we should leave while we still could chose to. Back on base we had a great group time and discussed how we saw God today. It was very power and some of the girls came to tears. LeAnne has made sure everyone has had a letter each day. I can tell you all of them have been greatly appreciated!
Tomorrow is white watter rafting and sleeping in! Peyton’s and I’s fish is still going strong! Everyone loves him! Now we just need someone to change his water…. Check out our facebook page for photos and videos. Heres the link: http://Facebook.com/ElevateSM
And heres a video of the guys room:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1549401498970&ref=mf
Sorry for any misspellings it’s 30 minutes after lights out and I can’t see the keyboard and don’t want to proof read. I’m tired. Oh and hi mom and dad!
Also If your write a comment to the group we’ll read it to everyone!
ReCreation day 1
Well, we are off to a great start!! It was a great drive up and we made some great time here. Everyone slept!!! We only stopped to get gas, two Rest area stops, McDonalds and that was it!! We got here around 2:45ish…wow!! When we arrived we went and set up our rooms. we are in a large room that we are sharing with 9 middle school students from First UMC Orlando. There is no AC so it is hot! After getting settled in and being the first group here we went out to the fields to play some soccer. Almost everyone played and we had a great time. We play what is referred to as Madision County soccer where there are no boundaries and no rules basically. Full contact is allowed and many people got knocked down. It then started to rain and we all continued to play. At the end of our game we were all nasty and stinky. It was when we went to go shower that we found our that we were not allowed to shower that night or this morning. Many of the girls went and rinsed off using the hose outside. Let the adventures of being stinky begin!
There are 160 students here this week and it is a bit crazy. Last night when all of the other groups arrived we had a time of worship, information, and a message. AFterwards we made a trip to the local wal-mart to get some supplies that we needed and get some items that some of our students forgot. The students also bought some random things. Peyton Bailey bought a beta fish for our room so that we have a pet. I did not even notice it till we were about to go to bed. So imagine walking into this messy room full of 17 guys and there is a small fish tank with a fish named Laqueesha. I have done a lot of retreats and mission trips but never had a student buy a fish. Everyone loves Laqueesha though and our group has connected with this fish. Peyton will be taking him home though!! It was a lot of fun, but we were all tired. We went to bed around 10:30ish and were ready for our day today.
This morning we woke up to pouring down rain!! We went to breakfast (Bacon, eggs, and nasty tasting fruit), When we were done eating our group had clean up duty so we all cleaned up the floors, kitchen, tables, and everything. When we were done we were off to our work site. We are working this week on a house that belongs to a guy named Michael Hughes. Michael is a 57 year old man who has some very serious medical issues. As an infant Mike suffered a severe stroke, and has suffered his whole life with severe mobility issues. 7 years ago mike was diagnosed with throat cancer and had to have his voice box removed. He uses an electrical device to speak with. The house he lives in is very sad and dilapidated. The entire foundation had to be worked on before we arrived because it was falling down. This week we are going to be replacing the entire roof, helping with the septic system replacement, putting new walls on the outside of the house and paiting the inside and outside. He did not have a septic system and had the drainage going into the creek nearby. He is basically going to have a new house. What a blessing it is for us to have this opportunit¥ to help him. OUr students worked very hard today on the roof, digging, painting, and whatever else we needed them to do. We are excited about the ways in which God is going to work this week. Keep praying for us!
Just arrived at ReCreation! 3 Hours Early
We have all safely arrived at ReCreation! We are the first group here. A whole 3 hours early! That’s right! We were early for something!!! Our rooms are set up (we got first pick) and now madison county soccer is about to go down here in NC! More details latter.
S.I.F.A.T.
The journey begins in about 1 day! Are you ready?!? Keep checking here for updates, I’ll post as I’m able while we are in Alabama.
The Thursday Day
It’s always a bit rough getting back started after a day off. We probably stayed up a bit too late last night because we weren’t quite as tired, and it was a quiet morning around the breakfast table. But we got up, had our morning devotions and left for the worksite in silence because the devotion was about meeting God in the silence.
We were painting today and our group totally rocked it! We worked hard all day (fortunately it was overcast most of the day) and got the vast majority of the house painted. There is some trip and touch ups left. As we were cleaning up it started pouring rain, so we’ll see how much of our paint job has to be redone tomorrow.
We came back had an awesome dinner…Jamie tried watermelon for the first time…and loved it! We then had a time of worship, and Chad talked about Nicodemus which prompted a great discussion on why we feel like Nicodemus sometimes and will only come to Jesus “at night” when no one else will see us. We talked about why it’s hard to live as a Christian even around friends who also are Christians.
Then more dodgeball and now bed time. One more day! Keep praying for us and for Ms. Dora!